News

10.19.12Professor Bill Araiza on the “Class of One” Concept in Thomson Reuters

In an article on Thomson Reuters, Professor Bill Araiza explores the complications relating to the concept of a “class of one.” The concept was determined to be constitutional in 2000 when the Supreme Court ruled that unequal treatment of an individual, or a “class of one,” was a violation of his or her equal protection rights. Due to the Court’s broad interpretation, many cases have since followed that take advantage of the idea, leaving lower courts unsure of how to handle them.

Regarding a pending appeal in the 7th Circuit, Professor Araiza writes, “If the Supreme Court does not hear the appeal, then matters will stand essentially where they stood over a decade ago: with the lower courts feeling their way through a confused area of the law, groping around the concepts of irrationality and animus in order to find limiting principles to a doctrine that, while deeply resonant, threatens broad vistas of largely meritless litigation challenging discretionary government action.”